Your claim that Akufo-Addo didn’t condemn elections 2020 deaths is false - Presidency claps back at Mahama

Director of Communications at the seat of Ghana’s presidency, Eugene Arhin, has strongly rebutted the claims made by the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, against President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, regarding the death of eight persons during the 2020 elections

The director labelled the claims as false and misleading.

Eugene Arhin, criticised the former president for his assertion that President Akufo-Addo neglected to condemn the deaths associated with the December 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The director of communications in a news report on Asaaseradio.com, highlighted a video clip extracted from President Akufo-Addo's victory speech on December 9, 2020, at his Nima residence.

In the said video, the president condemned the regrettable deaths resulting from post-electoral violence in Odododiodio and Techiman during the general elections.

“I condemn in no uncertain terms the isolated incidents of post-electoral violence in Odododiodio and Techiman that led to a few regrettable deaths. May their souls rest in peace. We must work to avoid the repetition of such events in the future.

“This statement was made by President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, 9th December 2020, at his Nima residence, after being declared the winner of the 2020 elections,” the news report quoted the director of communications at the presidency.

“...Former President Mahama’s claims that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has not uttered even a word of sympathy to the bereaved families” is simply not true. He should, therefore, do the needful and congratulate President Akufo-Addo on his victory in 2020, the post by the director of communications at the presidency further read.

In a speech on Sunday, January 7, 2024, Mahama had alleged that President Akufo-Addo failed to address or offer sympathy for the eight lives lost during the election-related disturbances in 2020.

Mahama called on the government to refrain from undermining democratic rights and criticised the use of thugs and rogue elements in disrupting elections.

“I urge the current government to refrain from actions that continue to undermine democratic rights under their administration. The use of thugs and rogue elements within the security agencies to disrupt elections in some parts of the country as occurred in the 2020 elections, leading to the loss of eight (8) lives, will forever be remembered as Ghana’s day of infamy and an indelible blemish on our democratic credentials established over the last 31 years of constitutional rule, Mahama said in his statement.

“On a rather sad note, it is unconscionable that three years after these tragic events, our President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has not uttered even a word of sympathy to the bereaved families. The perpetrators of these murders continue to walk as free men and still hold on to positions of authority and power,” Mahama added.

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NW/NOQ